St. Pauli confirm fifth and six summer signings | OneFootball

St. Pauli have confirmed their fifth and sixth summer signings ahead of the 2025/26 Bundesliga campaign. After completing the signing of speedy English forward Ricky-Jade Jones last weekend, Hamburg’s Kiezkicker have added another attacker to the mix. Former Portuguese U21 international Mathias Pereira Lage joins St. Pauli on a free from Stade Brest. SK Austria Klagenfurt keeper Simon Spari was also purchased for €200,000.

Pereira brings with him Champions League experience, having made nine appearances for his Ligue 1 outfit at Europe’s highest footballing level. The 28-year-old is also incredibly versatile. Pereira featured in the ten, eight, and six positions for Brest. He also served on both attacking flanks and had a few turns as a centre-back.

This will be Pereira’s first assignment abroad. St. Pauli officials nevertheless made clear that they felt this signing helped compensate for the recent losses of attackers Morgan Guilavogui and Johannes Eggestein. The Bundesliga outfit also allowed loan agreements with SC Freiburg goal-threats Noah Weißhaupt and Robert Wagner to expire this month.

St. Pauli – a historically horrible scoring team in the league last year – have now shed players responsible for nine of their 28 league goals last season through departures. Pereira scored four goals across all competitions for Brest last season and has notched 41 total tallies in his career. FCP head coach Alexander Blessin and club sporting director Andreas Bornemann made clear they planned to deploy the Pereira player in attack.

“Mathias has gained a lot of experience at the top national and European level,” Bornemann noted in his statement, “His skills exactly match the profile we are looking for in several attacking positions.“

“Mathias has everything we want in an attacking player,” Blessin added. “His versatility and team-oriented style of play will make us even more flexible on the pitch.”

“After my career in France, I am now looking forward to a new league,” the player himself said. “FC St. Pauli is a very interesting club, and I got a very good impression from my talks with the people in charge.”

Spari’s addition rounds out the club’s goalkeeping team. Injury issues led to St. Pauli carrying five keepers on their squad last year. Three of those five are now gone. Eric Oelschlägel and Sören Ahlers were released. Veteran Sascha Burchert announced his retirement.

Spari will back up starter Nikola Vasilj and number two Ben Voll. The Austrian youth international once worked in the Karlsruher SC youth academy before moving back to his native country.

“He is still relatively young, but has already proven himself over a season in professional men’s football,” Bornemann said of Spari. “Given his talent and development so far, we believe he is ready to take the next step with us.“

“Simon has good reflexes and is difficult to beat in one-on-one situations,” Blessin remarked on Spari’s addition. “On top of that, he has a positive attitude and the will to always improve.”

“I now feel ready [for the jump to the German Bundesliga],” Spari noted in his own statement. “I believe that I can develop in the best possible way at FC St. Pauli and certainly learn a lot from my colleagues in goal.“

GGFN | Peter Weis